Annotation:Bill of Rights (The)

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BILL OF RIGHTS. English, Jig. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The melody was originally published in Charles and Samuel Thompson's Compleat Collection, vol. 3 (London, 1773). As with numerous other tune from the Thompson's 1773 collection, it was entered into the 1788 music manuscript books of fiddlers John and William Pitt Turner of Norwich, Conn., and the 1840 copybook of Cumbrian musician John Rook. "Bill of Rights" is one of the "lost tunes" of Northumbrian musician William Vickers' dance tune manuscript, begun in 1770. The title refers not to the American Bill of Rights (which, of course, the tune predated) but to the English Bill of Rights, passed by Parliament in 1689 when they invited William and Mary to the throne of England. It enumerates, among other important points, governance under a constitutional monarchy.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Thompson (Compleat Collection of 200 Favourite Country Dances, vol. 3), 1773; No. 119.

Recorded sources:

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